common fruit or punishment of it So that were it possible to make their hearts as visible as their vices we should soon see what little reason there is to call the proud happy or to disbelieve the testimony of the Prophet That there is no peace to the wicked As for Good and Righteous men it cannot be imagined that they should be acquainted with rest and happiness where they are strangers and pilgrims at so great a distance from their Father's house and the inheritance prepared and reserved for them They are not of the world and therefore the world hateth them and is ready to say and do all manner of evil against them They are not perfectly free from Sin which is it self a heavy burthen to them and moveth their Heavenly Father to correct them They carry a body of flesh about them which lusteth and warreth against the Spirit They have an Adversary the Devil that continually assaults them And amidst all these disturbances who can be happy Most certain then is it that here is not our rest that amongst the Living Blessedness cannot be found but as we are taught in the Text it is the Portion of the Dead Blessed are the Dead And were this true of all that are so it were a comfortable doctrine indeed and Death would deserve some mild and gentle name instead of that frightfull character The King of Terrors But it is not every one that dies but only those that die in the Lord that are made Partakers of this happiness Which brings me to the other part of their character Who are Blessed and Happy men Secondly They are those Which die in the Lord. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. In speaking to this I shall shew First Who they are that die in the Lord and Secondly That these only are Blessed First Who they are which die in the Lord. Some instead of in the Lord read for the Lord taking the Blessedness of the Text to be pronounced of those that in the times of persecution lost their Lives for the sake of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ But I rather think the words are to be taken in a larger sense as signifying those which St. Paul calleth The dead in Christ 1 Thess 4.16 all those that die in the Fear of God and in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ Those that are faithfull unto death and keep the works of God unto the end or as they are described in the Verse before the Text They that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus They that do this and notwithstanding all the opposition they meet with persevere in doing thus unto the end These and which is the next thing I am to shew Secondly These only being Dead are Blessed The wicked is driven away in his wickedness saith Solomon but the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 When a wicked man dieth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth Whilst they live they may and often do flatter themselves with hopes of Happiness hereafter but Death makes a lamentable discovery of the vanity and deceit of all such presumptuous expectations The Son of God himself hath told us that If we will enter into life we must keep the commandments Matt. 19.17 that the Blessed are those that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city Rev. 22.14 The promises of eternal life glory honour and immortality belong only to them who by patient continuance in well doing are made meet to be partakers of them But to those that obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness God will render saith S. Paul indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil Rom. 2.7 8 9. Indeed if we do but seriously consider the refined and spiritual nature of true Happiness we should certainly think it a most absurd thing to imagin that those who die in their wickedness should be made Partakers of it Can you think that God will doe himself that which he hath forbidden us that he will cast pearls before swine or that he will throw his childrens meat unto dogs that he will prostitute the divine and spiritual Blessings of the world to come to those that have drowned their souls in the bruitish pleasures of flesh and sense But if we could suppose that God who is of purer eyes than to behold evil that cannot look upon iniquity should be willing to receive the obstinate workers of it to dwell for ever in his presence yet even there they would not be happy For there are many Sins which in their own nature include trouble as envy wrath malice covetousness excess with many others But they are all contrary to the pure and holy nature of God to his Image which is the Glory and Happiness of the Saints in Heaven and wheresoever they are they are always attended with a darkness of the Understanding a perverseness of the Will a disorder and depravation of the Soul And is it possible a man should be happy and at the same time incumbred with these the worst of evils such as corrupt and distemper the Soul the better part of Man and are most opposite to the greatest good to God the only enjoyment that can make us happy If then as the Tree falls so it lies If we must go into the other World in the same state we leave this and those that die unjust and filthy must be unjust and filthy still it is impossible that they should be happy who instead of being faithfull and obedient continue wicked unto death unless we can reconcile torment and bliss sin and holiness the image of the Devil and the image of God But on the other side Lift up your heads O ye Righteous and be not dismay'd at the thoughts of Death For as that approacheth so your redemption draweth nigh In your Father's house there are many mansions and the Blessed Jesus is gone before to prepare a place for you and yet a little while and he will come again and receive you unto himself that where he is there ye may be also In the mean time he hath not left you comfortless for he hath given the Holy Spirit to revive the humble and contrite soul to give invincible testimony to the truth of all his promises particularly to that of Blessedness to them that die in the Lord Which brings me to the next thing observed in the Text which is Secondly The certainty of their Blessedness who die in the Lord from the testimony of the Spirit Yea saith the Spirit Wicked men may think it in vain to serve God and count the life of the righteous madness but it were happy for them if they might die the death of the righteous and have their latter end like theirs For when a Good man dies then all his labour and sorrow is at an end and he
A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF Mr JAMES LORDEL WHO WAS Buried at St MAGNUS Church March 27. 1694. By LILLY BUTLER Minister of St Mary Aldermanbury LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over-against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1694. To my Honoured Friends Mr John Lordel Benjamin Lordel Samuel Lordel Abraham Lordel Peter Lordel and Mrs Mary Lordel Mr John Trymmer Mrs Sarah Trymmer Brothers and Sisters of the deceased Mr. James Lordel Honoured Friends MY Obligations to your Good Family are so very great that I could not deny your request for a Copy of this Sermon preached at the Funeral of your Dear Brother and my very Good Friend It must be the relation it hath to him that hath moved you to design the Printing of it And though I am very sensible how unfit it is to be thus exposed yet it is some satisfaction to me that by consenting to it I shall shew how hard it is for me to refuse you any thing that may be a testimony of my respect and gratitude I do often think with a great deal of pleasure on that exemplary Virtue and most tender Love to one another which are so remarkable in every one of you And that you may be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in these things and long enjoy the comfortable fruits of them is the hearty Prayer of Your most obliged Friend and Servant Lilly Butler REV. XIV 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them BLessedness is that which all men naturally desire but the greatest part of them either cannot or rather will not understand when and how and where alone it can be found Most men seek no farther for it than their Senses will direct and guide them and think for certain it resides amongst the things that are seen and are but temporal One eagerly pursueth the deceitfull and uncertain riches of this World wearieth his body breaketh his rest defileth his conscience and whilst he little thinks of it selleth his soul too that he may fill his baggs and barns and increase his treasures and revenues and all this while flatters himself that if he can but accomplish his designs he shall then be a happy man and may say to his soul as the rich man in the Gospel did to his Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry for thou hast goods laid up for many years But alas in a very little while and for the most part before he can attain to that rich-man's wealth and increase he receives his dreadfull rebuke and summons Thou fool saith God to him this day or this night thy soul shall shall be required of thee and then poor wretch all his hopes and expectations perish and the intolerable misery he is condemned to sadly discovers his mistake of happiness Another confidently perswades himself that there is no happiness like greatness and honour that if he could but attain to such a height of dignity and preferment then without all peradventure he should be a happy man But oftentimes whilst he is studying and contriving to advance himself before he can reach his affected honours Death comes and spoils all his plots Or if he do perfect his designs he injoys his honour but a very little while and then is thrown down from the height of all his glory his body into the grave and his soul as low as hell A third derides and laughs at the folly of others and very confidently presumes that he hath found the truest happiness even carnal delights and pleasures the faring sumptuously every day and spending his days and nights in rioting and drunkenness in chambring and wantonness in contriving and acting new scenes of lust and intemperance But alas this man 's fondly conceited happiness promotes and hastens his real misery distempers his body consumes his strength and shortens his life which is no sooner ended but instead of those soft delights those pleasures of sin he enjoyed for a season he is forced to lie down in unquenchable flames to weep and wail for ever in that place of torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels Indeed we are all too apt to take up our rest here and to look for too much happiness in this world Job 5.7 where we are born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards But if we hearken to the Divine Authour of my Text he will there discover our mistake in this matter he will tell us as he was taught it immediately by a voice from heaven the season and nature and subjects of true felicity I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them In these words we have First A description of those that are blessed and happy men Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Secondly The certainty of their blessedness from the testimony of the Spirit Yea saith the Spirit Thirdly The nature of their blessedness It is a Rest That they may rest from their labours and a Reward Their works do follow them I purpose to speak something to the several parts of my Text and conclude with some seasonable Application of it First Here is the Description of those that are blessed and happy men The dead which die in the Lord. First The Dead and not the Living It is a true account which Job giveth us of the Life of man c. 14. v. 1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble Solomon supposeth a far happier state of life than was ever yet found in this World and pronounceth of this likewise that it is but vanity Eccl. 11.28 If a man live many years and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many All that cometh is vanity And certainly we may rely upon the judgment of Solomon in this matter who if there had been any happiness in this world would undoubtedly have met with it He had experienced most and he had searched into all the admired enjoyments of this world and the conclusion he made after all his diligent and exact inquiries he telleth us himself Eccl. 1.14 I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit There are but two sorts of men the Wicked and the Righteous and neither of these can be happy here The Wicked are like a troubled Sea that cannot rest Isa 57.20 They have always something to ruffle and disturb their minds some unruly lusts disordering passions unsatisfied desires disappointed expectations or the severe rebukes of a condemning conscience Besides those pains and diseases those crosses and mischiefs and other outward evils which are the natural or moral effects of Sin the
enters upon a state of happiness that hath no period And his hopes of these things are not like the flattering fancies of ungodly men which have no foundation but their own folly But they are founded upon a rock upon the steady and immutable Word of God which though heaven and earth shall pass away can never be moved shall never fail Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord Yea saith the Spirit the Spirit of God Almighty who therefore can the Spirit of truth who therefore cannot but do what he hath promised And their Blessedness is as great as it is certain for they shall rest from all their labours and their works shall follow them in a glorious reward Which is the next thing observed in the Text viz. Thirdly The nature of their happiness who die in the Lord it is a Rest That they may Rest from their labours and a Reward Their works do follow them First It is a Rest a Rest from all their labours that is from every thing that brings with it either pain or trouble or sorrow First They Rest from all the necessary labours of this life The good things of this world are gotten and preserved with care and industry and men eat bread in the sweat of their brows God hath therefore allotted us six days in seven for our labours of this kind But those that die in the Lord do immediately enter upon a perpetual Sabbath The labours of Seed-time and Harvest of Trade and Study cease for ever and they have a constant supply of all good without any uneasy thought or care or pains taken for it Secondly They Rest from all their labours under the rage and malice the injustice and persecution of their enemies They that will live godly in Christ Jesus must look to suffer under the hands or tongues of an ungodly World And indeed oftentimes such are the hard speeches and the cruel usage they meet with from it that if they had hope only in this life they would of all men be the most miserable But when once Death hath removed them hence they are presently advanced above the reach of all their enemies covered with the wings of the Almighty and received into the everlasting protection of the Lord God of hosts Thirdly They rest from all their labours under the correcting hand of their Father which is in heaven Whilst they are in the body they are too prone to fall into sin and to fulfill the desires of the flesh And therefore God in love and mercy doth take the rod into his hand chasten and correct them here that they might not be condemned with the world or delivered into the bitter pains of eternal death But no sooner hath Death pulled down these earthly tabernacles but thenceforth they neither feel nor need any more correction Then they are perfectly rescued from all pains and diseases from all crosses and afflictions whatsoever There is no need of patience which was so necessary in our state of trial here For there is nothing troublesome or uneasy in that Rest which remains for the people of God Fourthly They Rest from all their labours and trouble under the difficulty of their duty and the assaults of their spiritual enemies Whilst they are here they are always in a Military state continually combating with the Devil the World and the Flesh The Devil seeks with unwearied diligence to turn them out of the ways of God or to render their progress therein painfull and unpleasant The Flesh is ready upon all occasions to mutiny and rebell insomuch that they are forced to keep a diligent watch over it or it would soon betray them to the rage and malice of their enemy without They meet with many and violent temptations from a corrupt and naughty world and much opposition in running the race that is set before them and are constrained to use a great deal of care and study labour and industry to bring into captivity their thoughts words and actions unto the obedience of Christ This is the condition of all the faithfull disciples of Christ so long as they abide here But no sooner are their Spirits returned to God that gave them but all their striving and fighting is at an end Their warfare is accomplished and they are more then conquerors Henceforth there will be no Devil to tempt them no law in their members warring against the law of their minds Mortification contrition self-denial taking up the cross and all the uneasy part of their duty here will have no place They will then be obliged to nothing but what is highly acceptable to the whole man nothing but what is necessary to compleat their happiness Thus Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord Thus and abundantly more too They not only Rest from their labours but their works do follow them which is the Second part of the description of their happiness Secondly Their works do follow them that is they shall not be forgotten when they are dead but eternally crowned with a glorious reward When all their earthly enjoyments forsake them then their works of righteousness will remain with them and plead their title through the merits of Christ to that kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world Be ye stedfast 1 Cor. 15.58 and unmoveable saith St. Paul to the Corinthians always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. In vain No it shall be abundantly recompenced with a great and inestimable reward A reward that becomes the Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth to bestow and was purchased for us with the precious blood of his only-begotten Son A reward that will make us like the Best of beings and put us in possession of the Supreme good A reward that contains in it Treasures that are inestimable and incorruptible a Crown that never fades an eternal weight of Glory Joys that are unspeakable and Pleasures at God's right hand for ever-more A reward of infinitely greater value than all that wealth and treasures crowns and kingdoms victories and triumphs and a thousand more such words can signify In short It is a reward above all our expressions above all our hopes and above all our imaginations O the height and depth of the love of God! How unsearchable are his mercies and the extent of his goodness past finding out Shall such contemptible worms be thus advanced by him Shall such provoking sinfull creatures be made partakers of the joy and glory the nature and happiness of their great Creator Lord what is man that thou art thus mindfull of him that thou should'st thus reward our weak and imperfect services The best of us when we have done our best are but unprofitable servants Not unto us therefore not unto us but unto God our good and gracious God be all the praise and glory of that reward the Blessedness of them that die in the Lord. I proceed now